Friday, May 3, 2019

jacques callot's series for "le combat de la barriere" ... amn't sure of the correct order ...these images from the bibliotheque nationale de france






























































































































































The entry of Henri de Lorraine, Marquis de Moy; in the upper part, musicians on a carriage in the shape of a phoenix on the left, and Henri de Lorraine dressed as Pyrandre, with eight soldiers, riding a salamander led by Cupid riding a swan; below, carriages symbolizing, from left to right, Perseverance led by Time, Constancy led by a dragon, and Faithfulness led by dogs. 1627 







































some text from a dealer, Harris Schrank of New York ...

not yet sure if it helps to describe the images above ...


Watermarks: L. 577, 579, 580, 583 with the Interlaced C watermark (Lieure watermark 29); L. 582 with the 4 Lorrain watermark (Lieure watermark 35).
In Plate 578, the Entree of MM De Vroncourt, there are in the distance two small boats. This confirms that this plate is a first state; in the second state (Fagnani) impressions these have been effaced. On Plate 583 Lieure describes in vague terms a very rare first state with some problematic lines in the curtain at the right, corrected later. Our impression has some weak lines, as have several other very early impressions we have examined; it also has an early watermark; it is quite probable that ours is a first state or that no such first state as described by Lieure exists.
The 10 prints in the Combat series were created to commemorate a tournament sponsored by Duke Charles IV of Lorraine, in his palace at Nancy, in honor of his beautiful cousin the Duchess of Chevreuse who was in exile at Lorraine after the discovery of her role in the plot against Richelieu. The Duke and his cousin the Prince of Phalbourg fought for her favor in an evening joust – the fight itself is shown in the culminating plate.

The series shows Callot at his best in a range of motifs, showing crowds and individuals, astonishing details and marvelous compositions, reality and invention, all etched splendidly. 

Callot's illustrations eventually were included in a book on the event written by the blind court poet Henry Humbert. Various floats, chariots and individuals are shown entering the arena. Humbert writes of the entry of Vroncourt, Tyllon and Marimont: "They were raised up on a dolphin, armed with silver armor...Before their machine was seen Arion carried by another dolphin in the middle of the waves of the sea, who fondly touching his lute, blended his harmonies with the accidents of his voice." The entry of the Duke (the star) is described thus: "Vulcan with the nude Cyclops appeared next in a grotto, at the rear of which was a blazing furnace, where these dark artisans forged the arms of the sun.." (Callot had in fact designed the chariot of the forge of Vulcan.)

AND THEN ...

as a very tardy afterthought, after my evening's walk up to Castle Hill, I went back to the BNF Gallica site and searched for Henry Humbert ... and found at last the whole damned book, text and illustrations complete, and the images are wonderfully zoom-zoom-zoom-able ...

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8617151n/f1.image.r=henry%20humbert

a very satisfying end to a day's ditherings

PS

Marie de Rohan, La Duchesse de Chevreuse

as portrayed later in the same year, probably by Claude Derouet, who was court painter at Lorraine and a friend of Jacques Callot


























allesandro allori ... a pupil of bronzino ... venus has stolen cupid's bow ... and she ain't givin' it back yet ... you can almost hear tina turner singin' "what's love got to do with it" ...

















https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Allori


birdland by weather report ... i still like to listen once in a while














https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae0nwSv6cTU


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdland_(song)


fun with collage ... jacques callot


















i've done a crude cut and paste, inserting jacques callot's pantomime dolphins into an old print of tenby by william wallis from a painting by henry gastineau

but i'd enlarged the tenby print beyond the limits of its graphic integrity


















the collage is problematic because the callot dolphin image was actually much larger than wallis's tenby image

since then, i've found out that the bibliotheque nationale de france have two of the original callot's, and their image of the second one is bigger and clearer than the one i'd used

they were made in 1627, to commemorate a spectacular pageant ... le combat de la barriere

as you can see, callot's dolphin plate was very finely drawn and engraved & etched, being only about nine inches by six

wallis's tenby plate is only about six inches by four

here's the BNF Gallica link for callot's images ...

https://gallica.bnf.fr/services/engine/search/sru?operation=searchRetrieve&version=1.2&query=%28dc.title%20all%20%22Entr%C3%A9e%20des%20sieurs%20de%20Vroncourt%2C%20Tyllon%22%29&suggest=1&lang=en





































here's another scene from the same pageant, it must have been fun












then i found out that callot had made an entire album of ten prints commemorating the pageant ...

"The 10 prints in the Combat series were created to commemorate a tournament sponsored by Duke Charles IV of Lorraine, in his palace at Nancy, in honor of his beautiful cousin the Duchess of Chevreuse who was in exile at Lorraine after the discovery of her role in the plot against Richelieu. The Duke and his cousin the Prince of Phalbourg fought for her favor in an evening joust – the fight itself is shown in the culminating plate."

The series shows Callot at his best in a range of motifs, showing crowds and individuals, astonishing details and marvelous compositions, reality and invention, all etched splendidly. 

Callot's illustrations eventually were included in a book on the event written by the blind court poet Henry Humbert. Various floats, chariots and individuals are shown entering the arena. Humbert writes of the entry of Vroncourt, Tyllon and Marimont: "They were raised up on a dolphin, armed with silver armor...Before their machine was seen Arion carried by another dolphin in the middle of the waves of the sea, who fondly touching his lute, blended his harmonies with the accidents of his voice." The entry of the Duke (the star) is described thus: "Vulcan with the nude Cyclops appeared next in a grotto, at the rear of which was a blazing furnace, where these dark artisans forged the arms of the sun.." (Callot had in fact designed the chariot of the forge of Vulcan.)


https://www.artsy.net/artwork/jacques-callot-le-combat-a-la-barriere-the-combat-at-the-barrier

















... can i find all ten images ?  watch this space

later ... here's a whole page of stuff from the BNF ...

https://gallica.bnf.fr/services/engine/search/sru?operation=searchRetrieve&version=1.2&collapsing=disabled&rk=42918;4&query=dc.relation%20all%20%22cb42586457s%22

i think i'll set them out as a separate blog, although i'm not yet sure in what order they should appear


and can i find a better image of the original view of tenby ?

























ah ! ... there's an original imprint on sale ... so if i can buy it then i can scan it more clearly

so there will be progress

ergo ...